For now let’s forget all troubles & miseries
In this world of red dust, forsake our family &
Friends alike, forgive each & every other’s debts
& wrongdoings as well as our own sins; for now
Let’s not get stuck to our pasts or try squeezing
Into our futures, foreseeable or otherwise
Where we may easily become too lost in
Character as in imagination; for now, just
Let it be, including everything & everybody
While the little cloud above the horizon drifts
Along, & the tiny fish keeps bubbling on & off
In the creek; for now let’s stop & separate
Our selfhoods from our minds, observe how
They are making whims & wishes, & watch
How they become conditioned by concepts &
Constructs; for now let’s stay put as the hand-
Written book of history is being torn off
Page by page, until we find our innermost
Being in the heart of our soul at a crowded
Corner; & let’s take off our masks, identities
Even awareness as if we were peeling off
An onion, though we may find nothing for now
Yuan Changming edits Poetry Pacific with Allen Yuan. Credits include 15 chapbooks, 12 Pushcart nominations for poetry and 2 for fiction besides appearances in Best of the Best Canadian Poetry (2008-17), BestNewPoemsOnline and 2089 other publications across 51 countries. Yuan began writing and publishing fiction in 2022, with his first (hybrid) novel Detaching due out in September.